This is Kary Mullis, Nobel prize winner for the discovery of PCR, giving a talk. It's long and rambling, and at various points he endorses global warming denialism and HIV denialism, but somehow thinks maybe there is something to astrology. It's a terrible, awful, embarrassingly bad talk from a prestigious kook. Mullis has one point of pride with me: when anyone asks me to name a book by a legitimate, successful scientist that demonstrates that even smart people can be awesomely stupid, Mullis's Dancing in the Mind Field beats out even Collins' Language of God.

There are funny moments in the video, but they're mostly funny because they expose the inanity and hypocrisy of Mullis. For instance, he says that he will not take statins to control cholesterol because they might damage his brain…but anyone who knows Mullis's history knows he's been extraordinarily indulgent in mind-altering recreational pharmaceuticals.

Middle-aged Shanghai residents are turning to ketamine, cocaine and methamphetamine to sustain them through marathon sessions of mahjong and cards, a state newspaper has warned.

Until now, authorities have focused on drug abuse by the young and reckless, and while most users in the city are teenagers and young professionals, officials say that a growing number of older inhabitants are turning to drugs as well.

Zheng Yuqing, spokesman for the Shanghai Anti-Drugs Commission, told China Daily that there had been a "significant increase" in cases among the middle-aged, although, he declined to give figures.

"Most of the older victims, aged between 40 and 60, are unemployed or retired and so have plenty of spare time. They are often not well educated and have little awareness of the harm caused by taking drugs," he said.

The newspaper said many older people used drugs as a stimulant during card-playing and mahjong sessions, which often last all night. Gambling is often a major part of the lure, although it is illegal on the mainland.

Aim The purpose of this study was to determine if acute nicotine attenuated ketamine-induced regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF).

Method Following 2–4 h of nicotine abstinence, healthy chronic smokers participated in four sets of rCBF studies, H215O positron emission tomography, during a simple sensory motor control task. The four drug conditions studied were placebo, ketamine alone, nicotine alone, and ketamine + nicotine.

Results Intravenous ketamine increased rCBF in frontal, orbital–frontal, and anterior cingulate areas. Nicotine alone induced marked rCBF elevations in the lateral occipital cortex and rCBF suppressions in the basal ganglia and anterior cingulate cortex. Nicotine added to ketamine attenuated the ketamine-induced elevated rCBF in the anterior cingulate cortex but caused a marked rCBF increase in the orbital frontal region.

Conclusion This study illustrates the interactive effects of ketamine, an NMDA receptor antagonist, and nicotine in multiple brain regions. Nicotine substantially ameliorated the effects of ketamine on anterior cingulate rCBF and, when given alone, markedly suppressed anterior cingulate rCBF. The enhanced, synergistic orbitofrontal effects observed with ketamine and nicotine together suggest a marked increase in excitatory neurotransmission in a brain region often linked to psychosis, reward, and addictive behaviors.

Publication of the fifth edition of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) in May 2013 will mark one the most anticipated events in the mental health field. As part of the development process, the preliminary draft revisions to the current diagnostic criteria for psychiatric diagnoses are now available for public review and comment. We thank you for your interest in DSM-5 and hope that you use this opportunity not only to learn more about the proposed changes in DSM-5, but also about its history, its impact, and its developers. Please continue to check this site for updates to criteria and for more information about the development process.

Prompted by a new book release, the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research has received a confidential inquiry from the office of Erard Corbin de Mangoux, head of the French intelligence agency, Directorate General for External Security (DGSE), concerning a recent account of American government complicity in a mysterious 1951 incident of mass insanity in France. The DGSE is the French counterpart of the CIA.

The incident took place in the village of Pont-Saint-Esprit in southern France, and is described in a recent book about the 1953 death of an American biochemist, A Terrible Mistake: The Murder of Frank Olson and the CIA's Secret Cold War Experiments. The book, by investigative journalist H.P. Albarelli Jr., was published in late November 2009 by TrineDay, which specializes in books about "suppressed information."

The strange outbreak severely affected nearly five hundred people, causing the deaths of at least five. For nearly 60 years the Pont-St.-Esprit incident has been attributed either to ergot poisoning, meaning that villagers consumed bread infected with a psychedelic mold, or to organic mercury poisoning. But Albarelli reports that the outbreak resulted from a covert LSD aerosol experiment directed by the US Army's top-secret Special Operations Division at Fort Detrick, Maryland. He notes that the scientists who produced both alternative explanations worked for the Sandoz Pharmaceutical Company, which was then secretly supplying both the Army and CIA with LSD.

Thanks Noah!

Evo Morales, Bolivia's first indigenous president and known for chewing coca leaves at UN meetings, has launched a drink featuring the leaf called "Coca Colla"....

The project will be launched in four months and could be either run by the state or a joint partnership with coca growers. Officials said the drink's packaging would feature a black swoosh and red label similar to the famous Coke insignia.

The fate of Coca Colla is of particular concern to La Paz, which wants to expand coca cultivation. Tea, flour, toothpaste and liquor are already being produced using a coca base.

I'm not particularly interested in drugs. I mean, drugs are cool and all, and I'm told their actions are really fascinating from a biochemical standpoint. Their history certainly is colorful and illuminating; and sure, the social issues surrounding drugs and drug policy are important and thought-provoking. When it comes right down to it, though, psychoactive drugs are just a means to an end for me. If a machine came along that safely and reliably produced a programmable range of similar effects, I'd be an instant convert.

What I'm really interested in is exploring my own mind. I once played a first-person style video game for months before I discovered that there was another setting that allowed me to view the map and action from above. I started kicking ass immediately and I couldn't believe how long I'd managed to somehow get by without ever discovering this important and useful feature. Similarly, I like to tweak my own settings now and then, just to try to figure out what the heck my mind is and to discover what's possible to do with it. It's perfectly natural to want to play with ourselves, and the mind is our most entertaining toy. Or at least it's a contender.

The Brazilian government has authorized the use of a hallucinogen used in religious rituals after years of discussion and controversy. The legalization of the drug, called ayahuasca, daime, or hoasca, used by Brazilian Amazonian Indians in their rituals, just appeared in the Official State Bulletin.

It's only legal to use the hallucinogen, not to sell it. There are no restrictions; everyone can use it--women, including pregnant women and children, as long as it is during a religious rite. One cannot leave the place of the ritual while under the effects of the drug. This requirement comes from the fact that there have been people under the influence of the drug outside a religious environment that have committed suicide.

America currently finds itself in an economic situation rivaling the Great Depression. Fortunately, there is an opportunity for the people of California to create a viable industry via the legalization of cannabis. This could generate countless jobs at a time when they are desperately needed. We stand now at a critical juncture, one where we could act to protect one of the last "mom and pop" businesses left in America, or stand by as massive corporations steal yet another industry. AB 390, introduced by Tom Ammiano to the California legislature, along with other initiatives, are some of the only sound politics our state has seen in years.